What It Takes
by ronniex
Summary: Of course, when Rachel and Kurt graduate from McKinley High, they make their way to New York to become stars. It all seems to go perfectly but... do they have what it takes to make it in this big city? Klaine and Rachel/OC


**What It Takes ~Introduction**

The sun shone brightly that morning, the morning in which Rachel Berry stepped into her new dorm room at Brittany Hall. A huge smile adorned Rachel's pretty face as she looked around the fairly spacious room. There was not much, really, just three single beds, three desks and three dressers. Clearly, this was nothing like her room back in Lima, but she liked it already. She could do so much to this place!

Rachel was glad she was the first one to get here, as she could pick the bed she liked the most; so obviously, she picked the one by the window. She set down her three huge suitcases on the bed and made her way toward the window. She looked out, and down, and all she could see where teeny tiny cars rushing by in the surprisingly unclogged New York City traffic.

She let out a small squeak. She was actually here. She, Rachel Berry, was officially living in New York City: The Big Apple, the home of so many stars and now, her own. She sighed happily, settling by the windowsill, counting the small cars that passed the street, watching the traffic get heavier by the second.

Rachel's mind wandered. Between the excitement and rush of finally moving to New York City, she had barely had time to think about what had happened during the last few weeks at Lima. Rachel had welcomed the distraction when it came, since she certainly did not want to think about her quick, awkward breakup with Finn, or the pain that leaving her friends, the Glee Club and McKinley High in general brought. It was a good thing that Kurt was attending NYU, as well. He was like a piece of home she had taken with her, and would always be there through thick and thin. She smiled, and wondered how Kurt was doing in the other side of the building…

"…Hello?" a voice said, startling Rachel. She, however, did not let it show. She turned around and saw a pretty dark-haired girl. She wore a blue t-shirt, jeans and a very peculiar pair of red cowboy boots that she did not pull off. At all. Rachel smiled at the girl and stood up, straightening her skirt before walking toward her.

"Hi!" Rachel said, grinning, as she stretched her hand for the girl to shake. "I'm Rachel Berry!" She had actually thought of making a more elaborate introduction, but she didn't want to seem over-the-top, which was very unlike her, she noticed. She kept smiling anyway.

"Gina," the girl replied. "It's nice to meet you, Ray," she said with a grin, shaking Rachel's hand.

"Ray?" Rachel almost screeched and Gina's face adopted a puzzled look. "Oh, um," she started, regaining her composure. "It's really nice to meet you too, Gina. Just… do not call me Ray."

"How's Rayray instead?" Gina asked with a tiny gleam in her green eyes. Rachel just stared, and hoped that Gina understood what she meant by that, then shuffled to her bed and began unpacking.

"Where are you from, Gina?" Rachel asked politely, although quite frankly, she didn't care much. She disliked Gina already, with her huge green eyes and freckles and perfect hair and her stupid nicknames. Rachel didn't care that Tina was actually trying to be friendly in her own way. To her, she was just plain annoying.

"I'm from Texas," Gina replied. Now the cowboy boots made sense. "I still can't believe I am actually here! Like, god, the City is so big, don't you think? I'm afraid I'll get lost! And like, the campus and the people! This is all too awesome, right?"

Rachel blinked and watched Gina keep talking about the size of the city, and the skyscrapers, and the campus and basically everything. Rachel would not admit it, but she was actually amazed by it too. It was nothing like Lima here, and it was mesmerizing. She could barely keep herself from gazing out the window and keep counting cars. When she was done neatly arranging her last sweater on her tiny dresser, Rachel kicked her suitcases under the bed and went back to the window. She only caught parts of Gina's rant. She was apparently from a little town near the Mexican border (Rachel didn't care), and was planning to major on English Literature (didn't care about that either), and she had a horse back home (that impressed Rachel).

"So, what're you here for?" Gina finally asked, setting down on her bed and looked at Rachel.

"I'm going to be a star," Rachel whispered.


End file.
